Dear Sens. McCain and Obama:

CAMPAIGN 2008 - Letters from Florida

a simple question: "If you could talk to the presidential candidates, what would you tell them?"

After several days and a couple hundred miles traveling Florida's most important battleground, I've reached some conclusions:

Voters are sick about the slumping economy.

And your supporters, while sharing similar concerns, are backing you for very different reasons.

Oba-maniacs use fuzzy words and phrases like "hope" and "new direction" and "bringing people together."

McCain-iacs flash sharper edges. They talk about "fighting" and "terrorists" and being "scared."

The language is a window into your backers' minds.

Take Reynaldo Colon, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in Orange County, the heart of the Interstate 4 corridor. Colon is a corrections officer, and his wife is a medical transcriptionist. They live in a small, middle-class subdivision, the kind that blankets the 165-mile stretch from Daytona Beach to St. Petersburg.

When I found Colon, he was cleaning his garage before pulling an overnight shift at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County. I noticed an Obama sign in his yard and asked why he was supporting you, Senator.

"Because the middle class has been getting the short end of the stick," Colon said. "And Obama's talking about changing that."

The "message I'm hearing," Colon said, "is that he cares about us and not just rich people."

Now cross the street with me, Senators, and walk four houses down. There you'll find Mary. She might not give you her last name -- she wouldn't tell me -- but she was happy to talk politics.

Mary's first choice for president was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, but she has warmed to you, Sen. McCain. She's impressed by your grit, your commitment and your patriotism. And she's unfazed that you're 72 and have fought off several bouts of cancer.

"I know he's old and sickly, but I'm old and sickly," said Mary, who's 75 and used to run a jewelry store with her late husband. "I think he'll be able to do the job."

But before you puff up too much, sir, listen to her other reasons for supporting you.

"Obama? I am scared to death of him," she said, shaking her head. "I've listened to him, and I just don't trust him."

How about Maribel Calderon, a 29-year-old from Tampa? She likes you, Sen. McCain, because you've "been through the wars" and describes your running mate, Sarah Palin, as "a real fighter." But there's no question she's motivated, in part, by fear of your opponent.

"I don't trust him," she told me. "He's scary."

These voters are worried and anxious and -- in some cases -- more than a little bit angry. They see you as a protector -- of their lives and wallets -- and think Obama threatens both. Sometimes, if it's over the top.

In Clearwater, I met a woman at a Palin rally who said she suspected that you, Sen. Obama, might be the Antichrist.

When I chuckled, she touched my arm and said, "Really, I'm serious."

Talk about high negatives.

Bill DaRosa has more earthly concerns about Sen. Obama, but they spring from the same anxiety. DaRosa, who's 78, said the nation has become a nanny state, and he fears Obama would work with congressional Democrats -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- to make matters worse.

"We've already become socialized," said DaRosa, a retired Department of Defense worker who lives in Lake Mary. "It's gimme, gimme, gimme. More and more, a military junta sounds more reasonable."

I think he was joking.

DaRosa respects you, Sen. McCain, and admires your toughness, but his support is more a statement against your opponent than it is an endorsement of you. His preferred candidates were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Huckabee.

"McCain was my last choice," he told me. "He's a little too old."

Your supporters, Sen. Obama, are different. Many see you and describe you in oversized terms. They talk about "opportunity" and "new politics." A few throw out the word transformational.

Sal Capozzi lives near downtown Orlando and works as a technology coordinator at a local elementary school. He took some time before making a decision, but now he sees you, Sen. Obama, as the only way to go.

Your campaign, he said, has been "more hopeful than fearful." Republicans, he insisted, have spent their time trying to frighten the public.

"It's been the whole fear thing that John McCain has bought into," he said. "The truth is there are no monsters under the bed."

Capozzi, who's 54, also thinks that Sen. Obama stands a better chance of improving the country's image overseas. He's worried that Sen. McCain would be viewed as an extension of the Bush administration. Again, pay attention to his language.

"Obama is willing to listen," he said. "That's going to help the U.S. and the world at large."

Truth be told, Sen. Obama, Sal is one of your more understated supporters. Others have been swept up by the historic nature of your candidacy and almost hypnotized by your speaking skills.

Many of them can't describe your record or policy proposals. But to them, it hardly matters. If some of Sen. McCain's supporters consider you the Antichrist, some of your loyalists see you as something equally dramatic.

"Obama is who we've been waiting for," said Kris Dunham, a 29-year-old customer-service rep who waited six hours to see you in Kissimmee this week. "With him, I voted with my heart."